Notes from CIOhio

From Kevin Gadd -check out his blog - Central Ohio Startups

TechColumbus hosted the 2008 edition of CIOhio on Friday 21 November. There were approximately 200 CIO's in attendance at the Polaris Hilton. It was a great event with many educational tracks to choose from and 2 keynote speakers. As always, the networking was top notch, too.

For me, it is always interesting to go to these events and interact with CIO's. I am 42 and have been in IT since 1985, so I have many peers in this group of IT leaders. I was on this path at one time and thought that this was what I wanted to become. But, the entrepreneurial bug bit me HARD (13 years ago) and I jumped onto that train, never to return to the CIO path. So now, my peers and I look at the world of IT differently. I look for commercialization opportunities, innovation and ways to grow new businesses. I enjoy the smell (and unique challenges) of a new company and could not see myself in a big company running a large IT organization. I am thankful that we have people that can do that, though! I am not saying either path is better, it is just interesting to think it all through.

Anyhow, thanks to Tim Haynes and his team at TechColumbus for getting this together. I know many people really enjoyed this event and it continues to get IT leaders and thinkers together to talk, network, brainstorm, and commiserate. These type of events help everyone, including the Central Ohio IT Startups. Someone in the organization of some CIO at this event has a great idea that will be a commercial success. Keep pushing them and training them and giving them freedom to innovate and make mistakes. That will help make great entrepreneurs!

Notes that I took from the keynote speakers will be in separate posts. If anyone wants a specific slide presentation, please just email me. I have them all.

Thanks, Kevin...